[1] This early painting by Claude shows Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fleeing the massacre in Bethlehem.

Landscapes like this made Claude famous by combining a rustic vocabulary of shepherds and towering trees with realistic portrayals of the Roman countryside.

He perfected his depictions of the latter by risking malaria in order to make the sketches that would allow him to capture the campagna's golden sunlight and atmospheric effects.

Claude's idealized, Acadian landscape is a study of light and atmosphere in which the religious theme is secondary.

[3] As a part of the Clowes Collection, The Flight into Egypt was on display at the IMA for decades before it was officially donated, in 2003.